Authors — Noah Buschel
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When Life Becomes a Movie
The man in the white fedora is photographing his fettuccine. Later, he’ll put a filter on it and post it to Instagram while he’s on the toilet. Girls from Tokyo line up against a mural of Malcom X, then turn around, asses out, Kardashian style. A young man on the corner is videoing himself and addresses his followers with a “Hi guys.” He points his phone at a chihuahua on the corner and says, “This is everything!” He reaches down, the chihuahua bares its teeth. That last part will be edited out. Mark Zuckerberg is in his lab again, this […]
by Noah Buschel on Sep 5, 2017 -
Catching Bullets in the Rye
Hitler believed that movies were much better for propaganda than books or newspapers. He thought a pictorial presentation of an idea could reach more people, faster, with no effort needed on the viewer’s part. His minister of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, emphasized the escapism aspect of film. Goebbels wanted movies that were big and loud and glamorous, and that would be distracting to the population, with dark subliminal messages wrapped inside the pizzazz. Researchers recently reported that the rate of gun violence in American PG-13 motion pictures is now higher than that of R-rated films. When we see these gun […]
by Noah Buschel on Feb 20, 2017 -
Thinking about Trump and Streep on Martin Luther King Day
It’s not so hard to see how Meryl Streep is like Donald Trump. They share a taste for the ornate, the larger than life showy stuff. For every gold plated monstrosity that Trump has erected, there is a larger-than-life character Streep has chosen to play (“You have a script with a fatally sick socialite soprano who can’t sing? Sign me up!”) They both have an energy that is, as Trump might say, huge. And both of them can bully with their energy, wield their seemingly ageless and endless vitality like a dare, like a threat, like a weapon. Both of […]
by Noah Buschel on Jan 20, 2017 -
Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot: On New Year’s Resolutions and Giving Up Midnight Movies
Moviegoers, and I mean like Walker Percy desperation level moviegoers, the kind you see at 12:30 AM screenings of Bad Santa 2, they’ve been looking more pallid and dour than usual of late. Gone is what was left of the spring in their hop, the hop in their step. I see them marching, usually solo, with their Red Vines or Twizzlers, into the darkness, perhaps this time never to return no more again. But even the womb of a dim theater seems to offer little comfort these days to the diehard moviegoer. There is less dreaming now. I should know. […]
by Noah Buschel on Dec 30, 2016 -
A World of Opinions
I got back from Loving the other night and there was an email from the online site where I bought the ticket. The site was asking me what I thought of the movie. But I didn’t really have an opinion. I didn’t feel one way or another about it. Which was kind of a relief. To not have an opinion. But more and more these days, our opinion is being requested. If you go out to a restaurant, you’re encouraged to Yelp about it. If you’re not on Twitter, people say, why aren’t you on Twitter? And then you look […]
by Noah Buschel on Nov 20, 2016 -
Targeting Kids: Should the MPAA Rate Gun Violence in Movies?
Recently a friend sent me a link to a movie I made a little while back. The poster for this movie, Glass Chin, has the lead actor, played by Corey Stoll, caressing a gun. In the movie Corey’s character is scared of guns. And only touches one once, in fear, passing it to a psychopathic killer. That’s the only time a gun appears in the entire flick. And Corey’s character is scared shitless. He touches the gun like it’s the plague. But now the movie is being sold as a gun-toting movie. It’s a big porn pistol, and Corey holds […]
by Noah Buschel on Dec 13, 2015 -
Apparition Brew
Recently I sat down with a filmmaker who had a good run in the ’70s and still has a bit of a cult following. He asked that I meet him at The Red Deer Diner, at night. The owner would keep it open after closing time. Kids in Halloween costumes trickled out as I came in. There was Pocahontas and GI Joe. Casper ran into me, apologized, kept going. The filmmaker was already there, sitting on a stool at the counter. I joined him. We both drank black coffee. He said: “I’ll tell you what the problem is. I’ll tell […]
by Noah Buschel on Nov 30, 2015 -
Remembering Setsuko Hara, 1920 – 2015
I once lived with a woman for two years because her face and her energy reminded me of Setsuko Hara. There was the promise of beautiful dignity. The potential of sensual morality. And then of course the Setsuko illusion shattered when the woman threw a plate at my head. I’m not alone in falling for the great Japanese actress who passed recently at 95. There aren’t many movie stars that one wants for a wife and to grow old with. For instance, no one sees By The Sea, and says, “Geez, I gotta go find me an Angelina to propose […]
by Noah Buschel on Nov 27, 2015 -
Stories about Others: Inside (and Outside) Crimson Peak
The man in front of me at the ticket booth didn’t understand the new system at the theater. It was news to him that he had to pick a seat. He had never heard of such a thing, and an alcoholic beverage being an option just about blew his gasket. I was going to be missing some trailers, there was no doubt about that. This guy wanted a full verbal tour of all the recent developments at his local Cineplex. And he wasn’t going anywhere till he was satisfied and clear. I started saying underneath my breath, louder and louder […]
by Noah Buschel on Nov 16, 2015 -
Woody’s Magic Routine
At the end of Manhattan, perhaps Woody Allen’s masterpiece, he lies on a couch and lists all the things that make life worth living. As a twelve-year-old, I thought it was the coolest and hippest list I’d ever heard. Groucho Marx, Willie Mays, the second movement of the Jupiter Symphony, Louis Armstrong’s recording of Potato-head Blues, Swedish movies, Sentimental Education by Flaubert, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by Cézanne, the crabs at Sam Wo’s, and Tracy’s face. But as I’ve gotten older, I see that list differently. It’s a list to reaffirm a sense of self. […]
by Noah Buschel on Aug 18, 2014
